Overwatch Matchmaking Being Changed for Late-Night Players

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Overwatch Matchmaking Being Changed for Late-Night Players

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Blizzard is changing the way matchmaking works in Overwatch to stop players from stomping low-skilled opponents in the late hours of the night.

Currently, the matchmaking system is designed to account for the odds of victory on either side. In the perfect scenario, both teams will have a 50 percent chance of winning. However, the system becomes compromised at odd hours and especially in regions with low population.

This has caused a certain batch of high-ranked players to team up during late hours when most are asleep. Being unable to find enough players to match the odds, the system pits the players against weaker opponents.

The community calls it the “Brazilian Six-Stack” and which is being abused fairly often to gain easy Skill Rating.

According to principle designer Scott Mercer, the abuse ends now.

“The matchmaker will no longer create a match above a certain win percentage threshold, and we’re going to turn this new behavior on very soon,” he explained. “When we do, you could possibly wait a very long time or even not find a match at all in extreme cases.”

Players are advised to play during prime hours to find “fair” matches quickly. Either that or they should queue up solo. Otherwise, the new matchmaking will pretty much abandon groups of players if there is no way to level the odds.

Blizzard has confirmed that it will not be changing the matchmaking of Overwatch in the current patch but players should expect the changes to arrive in the next.

In its aim at a healthier gameplay environment, the matchmaking changes won’t be “very aggressive” at the start. With time, the developer will adjust the system based on feedback and data.

Elsewhere, the Overwatch player-base has been broken down in terms of Skill Rating from the past season. Taking into account the maximum Skill Rating achieved in Season 3, majority of players reside in Gold. Interestingly, Bronze isn’t as filled up as one would assume, with many managing to reach Silver.

Here is the full breakdown:

Bronze: 6%

Silver: 22%

Gold: 34%

Platinum: 23%

Diamond: 10%

Master: 3%

Grandmaster: <1%

Earlier this week, Blizzard announced Orisa as the next hero to arrive for Overwatch. She is a hulking tank, designed to withstand great force and protect her allies.